


I Just Wanna Start...

by HarmoniaChimera



Series: Kiss The Burns Away (Singsong Fallout Reacts) [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Domestic, F/F, F/M, Fallout Reactions, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, M/M, Multi, Other, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 18:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18266699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarmoniaChimera/pseuds/HarmoniaChimera
Summary: ...a Christmas in your heart. So, this is how it all started. With a Christmas Special.Anonymous asked: WHAT DO YOU THINK ROMANCED COMPANIONS WOULD BE LIKE WAKING UP ON CHRISTMAS MORNING AND WHAT GIFT WOULD THEY BRING SOLE IM YELLING BECAUSE IM THINKING OF ALL THE CUTE FLUFF STUFF(And there was another ask like this, too.)





	I Just Wanna Start...

**Author's Note:**

> [[Damn, I turned this into an f!Sole before I realised what I was doing. So sorry, I’ll do better next time, I pwomise! ;__;]]
> 
> [[Also, sorry this turned to be as long as an average Ghoul lifespan…]]

_Sole awoke one morning to find the world covered in snow. At first, she felt surreal, like in the old world, like just in a second she would hear Shaun shifting in his crib, crying for his mommy. But it wasn’t Nate who was still asleep next to her, and it wasn’t 2077 anymore. It was just the thick layer of snow and halos of icicles hid everything that, up till now, did a very good job of reminding her the world had changed: ruined houses, dead trees with broken branches, ubiquitous debris, and even the yelloweed grass. She reached for her Pip-Boy, as she did every morning, accidentally turning the knob to “Data”, and if it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t even realize it was 25 thof December already. And then it hit her: this would be her first Christmas without Nate, without Shaun… without her family._

 

**Cait**

“Hey, darlin’, you okay?” Cait sat up next to her, wrapping the bedding around her naked body to protect herself from the crispy tang in the air. Sole put her arm around her and nodded mindlessly, though the words “yeah, I’m fine” somehow didn’t want to leave her throat. Cait’s eyes wandered to the Pip-Boy. “Oh, it’s Christmas, ain’t it?”

Sole laughed softly, though didn’t really feel it. “You forgot? Really?” She didn’t mention she would have almost forgotten it herself.

“Hey, when you haven’t any real holidays yer entire life, they just slip by.” She sounded almost angry, but then she looked to the side, maybe even blushed a little, and said, “Well, I ain’t gonna spend it complainin’. I’m glad I have me darlin’ to share it with.” And with a kiss on Sole’s cheek, she jumped out of bed and opened the trunk she kept her things in. “Here. I made this for ya. I know it ain’t much, but… I’m not as good with me hands as you are.”

Sole turned the bladed knuckles in her hands. They were chrome-finished, polished to a shine, and the blades were so visibly sharp Sole didn’t feel the need to check. On the bottom, on the surface that would rest against her palm, Cait had engraved: “Give ‘em a taste, love” in surprisingly elegant letters. Sole started to suspect she had had Sturges help her with these.

“Not much?” she teased. “I love them. Come here.” She pulled Cait back to the bed and gave her a kiss, which soon turned into a much hungrier and  _sexier_  make-out session, until they finally pulled away, albeit with some effort. “Now, what do you say we go for a walk to the Combat Zone and make Tommy spend Christmas with us? And we could have MacCready come with us.”

Cait looked at her in such surprise, she didn’t even notice her eyes teared up a little. “Nothing would make me happier, luv.” And after another second of staring at Sole’s face in wonder, she smiled with clear, unbridled joy, a smile Sole so rarely got to see on Cait’s face, and said, “It’s nice, y’know, having a family.”

 

**Curie**

“I have never seen snow before, did you know?” Curie said, standing at the window, staring at the white roofs of Diamond City’s buildings. Sole walked over to her to embrace her from behind. She put her chin on Curie’s shoulder, looking out at the view, and suddenly all the hard work she’d put into installing the window was worth it. The fluff was still falling, slowly, gently drifting to the ground, clinging to the Christmas lights drawn across the square, and the children played below, having a snowball battle without care for any collateral damage to walls and passers-by.

Sole dug her face in Curie’s neck, stifling a cry as she realized she would never get to see Shaun,  _real_  Shaun, playing like that. She did adopt the synth Shaun, mostly for Curie’s sake; Curie, upon learning about the feud between the Railroad and the Institute, and how everyone else played into it, had been very concerned about how their relationship could be viewed by others. How Sole could be ostracized or even persecuted for loving her. How maybe she didn’t really like being with a synth. So Sole adopted the kid to calm her doubts, show her she really cared; but there was still a nagging voice in the back of her mind making her constantly aware that the ten-year-old boy, now running around Takahashi’s noodle stand in order to get a better angle at the ‘enemy team,’ wasn’t her real son. Even though he acted like one and loved her like one. He wasn’t her own.

But people didn’t know that, except for select few, like Curie, of course, or Nick who had helped her find Shaun in the first place, or X6. Everyone else though she really did find her son at the Institute. Well, they weren’t really wrong.

“As much as I love this,  _ma belle_ ,” Curie said, pulling Sole out from the dark corners of her mind, “we must get going. He have a lot to do today! You promised me carolling, remember?”

“I do,” Sole replied reluctantly. Oh, Piper was going to have a field day with them.

“But first,” Curie continued, obviously ignoring her tone, “I have made a very special gift for you _, mon amour_!” She scuttled through the room, leaving Sole completely dumbfounded. They’d been spending every waking moment together for weeks now. When did Curie manage to get her a gift without her noticing? And a hand-crafted one, at that? “Here, unwrap it! I read that unwrapping presents used to be an important tradition before the War. But I’m afraid I had to use pages from a children’s book. It is colorful, yes?”

It was colorful, and pretty. So much that Sole tried her best not to damage the packaging too much, but Curie didn’t seem to mind. What emerged looked somewhat like a leather collar, black, and quite elegant. There was a round piece of platinum at the front which seemed to have a purpose beyond just being a decoration.

“It does something, doesn’t it?” Sole asked, throwing Curie a mistrustful glance.

“Yes, see, if you put it on and press this button, it releases a mild chemical which will stop pain conduction from the neck down. It should make it more comfortable for you to tend to your injuries in the field, when I am not there to help. Professor Scara helped me with the technology. She said it is called ‘a choker’, even though I don’t see why. Still, very useful, no? And I think you will look very  _mignonne_  in it.”

“Oh, Curie,” Sole said, almost crying for some reason. “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. Thank you.”

“I  _knew_  you would like it!” Content, she opened the window to shout: “Shaun,  _mon petit c_ _œ_ _ur_! It is time to come home!” And as she turned back to Sole, “This should be an interesting experiment. We should start with the Science Center, no? My co-workers should be thrilled to have us.”

Sole turned the choker in her hands, feeling the texture of the soft leather, before she put it on the side table. There would be time to test it later. Now, she was about to spend Christmas with her family.

 

**Danse**

“What was  _that_  about?” Sole heard Hancock’s voice outside the window.  
“Hell if I know,” Nick replied, their voices getting quieter as they walked away. Sole looked out the window to find Danse standing on the porch.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I smiled,” he replied, causing her to choke with stifled laughter. “And I told them ‘Merry Christmas’. I don’t think they liked it.”

“They were probably just surprised,” she said before walking out to the porch with him and promptly shivering in the cold. Note to self: winter is not the time of year to walk out of the house in nothing but a nightgown. “Oh, shit, it’s cold.”

Danse looked her up and down. “That is indeed the case when you stand barefoot in the snow.” Had he said it, he picked her up against her protests that everyone was going to see—

“It’s just for a second,” he cut her off, dashing to the building across the street. And Sole, holding on to his strong, broad shoulders, suddenly didn’t mind. He set her down near the fire. “I actually have something for you that might be the answer to your problem.” And from a locker, he pulled out… Maxson’s battlecoat?

“Wh… Please tell me you didn’t go back to the Prydwen to kill Elder Maxson for this,” she stuttered out, but as Danse began shaking his head with amusement, she noticed there wasn’t any blood on it, and in fact, there weren’t any sign of wear at all.

“If I did, I wouldn’t be standing here right now,” he replied. “It’s just…” Shock on Sole’s face deepened. She had never heard him not finish a sentence before. “You used to joke about how much you liked Maxson’s coat, so I thought I should make one for you. Like I said once: if you want something, say it, and I’ll make it happen.” And he wrapped the coat around her bare shoulders, and she marveled at how warm it was, how well it fit her, how even the lining was just right, and how…

“You made this? On your own?” She still couldn’t believe it, even holding the damn thing in her hands.

“Well, they always encouraged us to work on our uniforms, and turns out, leather isn’t much different. I hope you like it.”

“Oh, Danse, I love it!” She jumped into his arms again just to give him a deep kiss. And feel his biceps, because why not. Danse in turn embraced her waist and hugged her close to steady her. She could feel his firm chest on hers even through his clothes. As always, it made her remember Nate, just like every time Danse put on his power armor, she remembered Nate in his, and, just as always, she couldn’t help thinking about how lucky she was. This is where she’d always belonged: in a soldier’s arms. “Thank you so much, hun’.”

Danse stumbled back into the wall as he put his forehead against hers, closed his eyes, and momentarily lost his balance a bit; but Sole wasn’t worried. Even if they had fallen, Danse would make sure she landed safe on him. Nevertheless, there was something desperate in how he longed for her touch.

“Honey? What’s going on?” she asked gently, her hands against his face. He squeezed her waist harder, to the point it almost hurt, but then he set her down again.

“I want to tell you how important this is for me,” he said softly, looking straight into her eyes. His fingers played with a strand of her hair, almost as if on their own. “The last real Christmas I had was… all the way back in Rivet City, with Cutler. Later, when we joined the Brotherhood… There always seemed to be more important things to do. Holidays just seemed… silly. We’d give each other small gifts for a few years, the even that stopped, and then he…” And now, for the first time since always, she heard his voice break. She rubbed his face with her hand, trying to give him some sort of comfort. He took a breath, then continued, “I just want you to know, this means a lot. Those memories with Cutler are some of the most precious ones I have, and I feel blessed to be able to add to them with you. You make me feel the same way he did: like I have a family again.”

 

**Hancock**

Sole turned and looked at Hancock, still sleeping soundly, his scarred lips slightly parted in steady breaths. His eyes were moving as he mumbled something along the lines of, “what the fucking fuck happened to this mutfruit?” Sole should have laughed, but somehow, it only made her feel worse. She didn’t want to wake him from this obviously thrilling dream, but… She snuggled up to him, put her head on his bare chest, the warm ridges and crests scraping against her cheek. If she felt chilly before, that was now completely replaced with the heat emanating from Hancock. She clinged to him with her entire body, blaming herself as he stirred awake.

“Hey, sunshine, what’s going on?” He threw his arm around her, squeezing her waist reassuringly.

“I’m sorry I woke you. I didn’t—”

“Come on, getting to spend more time with you? Nothing I’d like more In the world.” He kissed her forehead and she nuzzled her face into his neck, breathing in his scent. “So what’s up? Why are you like this? Come on, it’s Christmas.”

“I know…”

“Oh… Ohh.” He pulled her up onto himself until she was on top of him. He cupped her face in his hands, placed another gentle kiss on her lips. “I love you, Sole. I know it’s not enough to fill the hole your family left in you, b— No, shit, don’t cry.”

Sole couldn’t help it. She clung to him again, bawling all over his shoulder, suddenly so overwhelmed by every bad and good thing she felt, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She’d been gathering it up for the last three months, never talking much about it, never letting it out, because in this world, everyone’s lives sucked, and most of them much worse than hers. She had it good, compared to some. And she really did believe she’d left her old life behind, since this one was, surprisingly, so much simpler. But apparently not.

Hancock held her close, rocking them a little as he brushed her hair and gave it a few kisses. She still couldn’t believe how well he understood, even though she knew it was killing him inside to see her still pining for the husband she had lost. For a dead man. Unless she found a way to truly put Nate out of her mind, Hancock would always feel like he does now: like he comes second to her. And yet, he remained at her side, loving her unconditionally. Saying how he didn’t deserve her, when truly, it was her who didn’t deserve  _him_.

“I love you, too,” she said finally, having regained control over her shaky breathing. “And I’m so, so sorry.”

“Now, don’t talk crap like that.” Hancock brushed her hair aside as she raised her tear-stained face to look him in the eye. “You had a rough year. Rough two hundred years. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”

She snuggled up to him again, suddenly unable to speak again. Hancock gave her a moment which he seemed to enjoy just as much as she did, and then said: “Okay, that’s enough of being two emotional wrecks, we need to get going,” as he lazily slapped her ass.

Sole sat up, too surprised to throw him a black look. “What? Why?”

“We’re having a Christmas party at the Third Rail. Didn’t I tell you?” She shook her head. “I could swear I told you. I did tell you to bring a dress, didn’t I? Well, anyway, it won’t be much of a party without everyone’s favorite mayor making an appearance, so why don’t you just…” And then he bluntly rolled her off of him. Sole, with a pained sigh, kept rolling until she almost fell off the bed and scrambled to her feet.

“Oomph… fuck.” She leaned against the wall, feeling her head explode, but like, in the distance.

“You alright?”

“Just a bit dizzy. And a headache.”

Hancock came over to kiss her temple, but snorted along the way: “You’re spending way too much time with me.” But then a thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Or maybe you’re sick?”

“Bullshit. I’m just tired.” As soon as she could move normally again, she began dressing, much to Hancock’s theatrical anguish. “It’s not like last night brought me much sleep, exactly…”

“Yeah, sure, make it all my fault,” he teased as he pulled on his coat and fastened the belt across his chest. “You little vixen, you.”

Sole chuckled. It absolutely was not his fault. He had just about fallen asleep when she’d decided to jump his bones. Oh, the poor bed.

After several minutes of him constantly interrrupting her as she tried to get dressed, they finally went down to the Third Rail, where the entire populace of Goodneighbor was already gathered. As soon as Hancock walked in, everyone welcomed him with an earth-shattering ‘huzzah!’ raising their glasses, which, as Sole suspected, were full thanks to his generosity. Oh, how easy it was to make these people happy. Hancock waited for the commotion to die down—someone handed him a glass of wine in the meantime and Hancock now thumped his fingernails against it.

“I’d like to make an announcement,” he said. “One a bit more elaborate than my usual ‘of the people, for the people’.” Everyone cheered anyway. “Okay, okay. Come on, folks. I just wanna say that Goodneighbor may have started as a place, but now it’s about you. The people. Without you, there would be no Goodneighbor. And it makes me more happy than I can say to be able to call myself your mayor and call you my family.” Cheers and ‘aww’s broke out again.

“We love you, too, Hancock!” a man shouted.

“Now, now, don’t get too familiar, Joe, you’re not my type.” Hancock winked and Sole could swear at least half the crowd pretended to faint while the rest laughed heartily. “Not to mention, and here we’re coming up on the second part of my announcement that most of you probably know, I’m already spoken for.” Saying that, he pulled Sole in closer. The crowd cheered on, albeit less loudly, and some of them murmured in an unsurprised agreement. Sole’s eyes met MacCready’s, who was sitting at the bar, and he smiled and put his glass up to her.

“Now I’d like you all to come see the gift I got this one. Y’know, in hopes she’ll make good use of it and come visit us a little more often.” People laughed again, and then most of them followed as Hancock led Sole out with his hand on her waist.

“What the hell did you do, Hancock?” she murmured, blushing. For someone who got involved in so much, she didn’t necessarily like being the center of attention.

“You’ll see, sunshine,” he replied in that low voice of his. Son of a bitch. They walked out into the cold, crispy air, smelling of smoke and winter. Snow crunched beneath their feet as they took a left turn around the corner of the Old State House… and then she saw it. A beautiful silver vertibird, clearly freshly washed and polished, was sitting on the roof of Hotel Rexford. An enormous red bow was somehow tied around the pilot’s cabin.

“What the fuck? John? What the actual fuck?” she stuttered, and he only stood there and grinned proudly. “You can’t be serious! Whaa… How did you even…?”

“You know how Gunners will do anything for caps?… Yeah.”

“You went to the Gunners?!”

“More like contacted them via a messenger, arranged a meet on neutral gr… Oh, stop freaking out. They’re pretty reasonable when they hear the caps jingle, and they do keep their gear in good condition.” Sole was still shaking her head at him with her eyes widened in honest shock, so he continued, “What was I supposed to do? Go to the Brotherhood?”

“How about get me a smaller, more… manageable gift?”

“Stop whining.” He kissed her to shut her up. Some of the more intoxicated partyers cheered them on as they rode the line between propriety and shamelessly making out in public. Hancock pulled back a little, but still stayed close, and when he had her so close, his rough hands on both sides of her head, suddenly there was no one else in the entire world. “It’s your fault, you know. Should never have said you’d like one of your own. You should’ve known I’d strive to make it happen.” Sole let out an incoherent babble, hiding her red face in her hands. Hancock laughed and kissed her forehead. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go spend Christmas with family.”

**BONUS:**

As they descended back into the Third Rail, this time led by a small group of drunk Neighborhood Watch guards, singing a bawdy song as they stumbled down the stairs, Hancock and Sole were suddenly approached by Magnolia.

“I wanted to say, I’m happy for you two,” she said before they could even greet her. “You…” She put her finger on Sole’s chest. “You are one hell of a woman. I would know.” She winked and laughed with that perfectly calculated chuckle. “Take care of him, dear. And you, Hancock—don’t fuck it up.”

“Oh, Magnolia. I would never.” Again, with unbridled joy, he kissed Sole’s temple with such exhilaration, she couldn’t help but laugh. But she also couldn’t tear her eyes off of Magnolia’s fiery gaze. There seemed to be something else.

“But, still, in memory of old times…” She threw Sole a meaninful look, making her blush again, as she reached underneath her dress to take out a small package. “I’d like you to have this. I think it’ll suit you well.” And, saying that, Magnolia left a kiss on Sole’s cheek and went on to take her place at the microphone and entertain the crowd as only she could. Sole opened the small packet to find a ruby-eyed ring with intricate engravings around the socket. Hell, it seemed to be older even than her. She stared at it in disbelief until Hancock gently took it from her.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” He said only before slipping it on her finger and then placing an almost theatrical kiss on her hand. “Now, milady… Shall we dance?”

Sole laughed and let him lead her down to the main room of the Third Rail. No one paid much attention to them anymore, busy with their own friends and activities. Only Whitechapel Charlie dipped his hat to them as they went past. They found a fairly quiet corner in MacCready’s VIP room, and as they danced slowly to Magnolia’s voice seeping under the door, singing her special interpretations of the Christmas carols, Hancock embraced her close and kissed her neck gently, sending warm shivers down her spine. Until he suddenly jerked his head up.

“Wait. What did Magnolia mean by ‘old times’?” he asked, watching her carefully. Sole blushed at the memory of Magnolia’s scent and deft fingers.

“Nothing much, love,” she said immediately, but Hancock’s grin made it clear he figured it out anyway. She laughed at the face he made. Hancock kissed her deeply, and then instead of dancing, she was in his arms again as he put his hand on the back of her head and refused to let go. And when they pulled back, they were both panting hard, and she could see his thoughts written clearly on his parted lips and lustful gaze.

“Goddammit, John,” she said immediately. “We are  _not_  doing this in MacCready’s room with everyone on the other side of the door.”

“Mm, you’re right…” he mumbled, but still didn’t let her go. “But why not?”

 

**MacCready**

She allowed herself several minutes to shed a few tears over the life she used to have, but then a pitter-patter of small feet sounded in the short hallway, and she had just barely enough time to wipe her face in the bedding before Duncan ran into the bedroom.

“IT’S CHRISTMAS!” he shrieked in a tone that nearly burst her eardrums, jumping onto the bed. “And there’s snow! Have you seen?”

“Yes,” she chuckled, as if immediately healed by his child-like excitement. “You wanna help me make the food?”

“I would…” He sat up and wrinkled his nose with an undecisive pout. “But I’d also like to go outside… I mean, there’s so much SNOW!”

“Right, you usually wouldn’t see this much, would you? Okay, then, why don’t you get dressed warm and run down to Miss Alice and get some razorgrain and fruit? Actually, take whatever she’ll give you, your dad will probably figure out a use for it.”

She waited for Duncan to say, “Oh, okay, I guess” and leave to get dressed before she burst out laughing at her own unintended sexual innuendo. Fuck, four days is apparently way too long.

Just an hour and half later, they were both in the kitchen, preparing dough for the cake she had promised Duncan probably a couple of weeks ago. Brahmin was already marinating, carrots and silt beans cooking; she even prepped the corn when she got bored as the dough was rising. Now she was trying her best to make something resembling chocolate icing with the odd-tasting brahmin milk, sweet rolls, sugar bombs, and a pinch of coffee. It wasn’t going so well.

“Duncan! Can you please not?” Sole shouted, gently pushing the boy’s hand away from the dough. “Come on, would you rather eat raw dough or a chocolate cake?”

Duncan was thinking for the longest time before he finally said, reluctantly, “Cake…”, even though he was still eyeing the dough longingly. Sole sighed. “When is Daddy going to be back?” he asked then, and the way he said ‘Daddy’, like he still couldn’t believe the word even as it left his mouth, tore Sole’s heart out of her chest. Well, shit. She didn’t need it anyway.

“Soon, I hope,” she said as normally as she could, but she couldn’t help to glance at the time. RJ had left their house at Sunshine Tidings a few days ago to go find a gift for Duncan. He’d said he would come back in time for Christmas dinner, hell, that he’d even help her make it, but it was already past noon and he still hadn’t come home. Fuck knows where he went in the first place. He might be dead in a ditch somewhere, chewed on by molerats, or… worse—torn to shreds by ferals. She found herself wondering what she’d do if she had to tell Duncan that, and then take care of him alone. Would she even be able to?

Don’t think about it, she told herself. It would be okay. She sent Strong to go with RJ, and these two were pretty much unkillable together. RJ probably miscalculated the time it would take them to get to Goodneighbor and back with Strong slowing him down a little.

“Why don’t you go play with Dogmeat outside?” she asked Duncan, seeing the internal battle over the dough play out clearly on his face. “Just dress warmly and be careful.”

“Okay,” he beamed up at the idea, got ready in the matter of seconds, and shouted “Come on, Doggy!” as he rushed out the door. Dogmeat slid off of his couch, stretched carefully, and followed him out, his muzzle drooping like he wanted to say, “gosh, I’m getting too old for this,” even though he was barely  _four_.

But soon Sole could see the dog rolling in the snow so zealously he rolled off a hill and stopped only at the water pump, hitting it with a yelp. Duncan ran to check up on him, but Dogmeat got up without trouble and immediately knocked the kid off his feet and into another heap of snow. Sole chuckled to herself before she went back to her fight with the icing.

It wasn’t long before Duncan rushed back inside, red-cheeked and shivering, but still with a huge grin on his face. Dogmeat soon followed, covered in snow so snugly one couldn’t even tell he was a German Shepherd anymore. He stood in the middle of the living room and tensed up.

“Oh, no, no, NO!” Sole managed to shout out as she ran to kick him out to the porch, but she was too late. Dogmeat shook it all off on the beautiful rug she’d restored with such effort. God _dammit_. “If you think you’re getting back on the couch, young dog, you are very mistaken,” she said strictly. “You stay here in the mess that you made.”

Dogmeat whined with his uncanny understanding and indeed sat his tail down on the wet rug. That probably wasn’t the best course of action, Sole thought, but she couldn’t back out of it now. She put some wood in the fireplace before going back to the kitchen.

“And you, Duncan, go change and  _please_  hang these wet clothes near the fire, but not  _in_  the fire, okay?”

Duncan nodded and ran off. She still wasn’t over how much energy that kid had. But, she supposed, it was normal for children. She’d just never had a chance to witness it before. Her eyes teared up again, and she told herself it was from the heat of the cooking.

Duncan soon came back, got himself busy with some toys, but then eventually ended up on the rug with Dogmeat anyway. Sole watched them amused as Dogmeat rolled onto his back to get some belly rubs, and Duncan, scratching him with one hand, drove the toy car on his chest with the other. And when the toy inevitably fell off the steep slope of a dog’s ribcage, Duncan reached over him for it and Dogmeat shamelessly licked him in the face. Duncan, caught by surprise, jumped back with a surprised shriek before he laughed. Sole smiled. There was probably nothing more joyful than a small child’s laugh.

“Aww, I think he likes you,” she said and Duncan giggled even more. Dogmeat pushed his head under Duncan’s hand and the two were promptly playing together again.

Only a few minutes had passed before the door opened again with another wave of cold air blowing into the house. Sole turned away from the stove just as Duncan yelled: “Hi, Daddy!” and ran to get a hug.

“Hi, buddy,” RJ said, putting his arm around him, and then promptly giving Sole an apologetic look. “I’m sorry it took so long, we—”

“Oh, shut up,” Sole cut him off and ran over, rising up to her toes to finally kiss him. His lips and cheeks were awfully cold, but she didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter,” she said as she pulled away, sliding her hands down his chest. “As long as you’re okay, it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The snow surprised us a little. Some places, it was up to my waist and we had to improvise. Have you ever had Strong give you a piggyback ride?”

“Wha—”

“Look, Daddy!” Duncan spoke up, having long gone back to playing with Dogmeat on the rug. He was now climbing over Dogmeat’s back while the dog not only suffered it patiently, but even seemed to enjoy it. And just as RJ moved to get him to stop in fears that he’d get hurt, Duncan continued delightedly: “And Mama said Doggy likes me!”

That stopped RJ dead in his tracks. Sole, too. Duncan had never called her that before. RJ turned to her slowly with an odd expression. She didn’t know what to make of it. Was he angry? Did he think she made Duncan say it? She shivered. Or was he just in shock that after barely a month, his little boy was already…? He went over to the kitchen table, stiffly, sat down… and just started crying. Sole froze. Duncan didn’t notice there was anything wrong, thankfully, so when she could move again, Sole grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the bedroom, saying, “Let’s go get you changed out of those, you’re freezing.”

It wasn’t that she wasn’t shaken, especially with how Duncan just threw it in there, into a normal sentence, like it was the most regular thing in the world. And the truth was, he had never called her anything before, really. Somehow, that five-year-old kid managed to navigate every conversation in a way that allowed him to avoid calling her anything else than ‘you’. So this did feel like a .50-caliber bullet to the chest.

But RJ was in such state that all of that now faded away. He slumped to the edge of the bed like he got deflated, and immediately hid his face in his hands. Sole kneeled on the floor next to him and could see tears glistening between his fingers. She rubbed his knee, but couldn’t find any words to say. Only after a long while filled only with RJ’s stifled sobs and the quiet sounds of Duncan’s play coming from the other room did Sole manage to let out a sad sigh and whisper, “RJ…”

“I’m so sorry…!” he whimpered, barely keeping his voice down as he collapsed entirely so that Sole had to embrace him and prop him up on her shoulder, or he would’ve fallen off the bed.

“No, no…” she said, but he didn’t seem to be listening anymore. He just went on.

“Oh, God… I just never expected him to…” He held on to her for dear life, and the desperation and pain behind his cries made her tear up, too. There was something squeezing her throat already. “It’s been years… Years… And I stopped believing I’d ever hear him use that word again… And the first time I do, I think, ‘no, it’s not her’. Oh, God, Sole, I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be, RJ,” she could barely hold her own tears back. Something about the way he cried resonated deep within her and she couldn’t help herself. “I’m not trying to fill Lucy’s shoes. I don’t expect you to forget about her, I know you still love her.”

RJ was silent for a longer while, clearly trying to regain his composure, before he finally pulled away and looked her in the eye. He seemed calm, but his eyes betrayed the freshly opened wounds he suffered from. “I do. But I love you, too. And I didn’t like feeling like that—angry, at my little boy. It wasn’t his fault. He probably doesn’t remember Lucy at all…” His voice broke again, and Sole had to blink away her tears. “It’s not his fault. It just… hurt, you know? Like she was being erased and… I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry, Sole.”

“You don’t have to apologize, babe. I get it.”

He sniffled. “…I know. You always do, don’t you?” He kissed her forehead, his hand on the back of her neck as he pressed his lips against her skin. He then put his cheeks to hers and stayed like that for a while. “I still remember it, like it was just last week. Lucy was playing with him, holding him on his lap, and we talked about something… the crops, I think? And suddenly, that little boy raised a toy in his hand and just said, ‘Mama!’… It was the first word he ever said.”

Sole felt what was left of her tormented heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. “I’m sorry,” she said. RJ looked at her in surprise, so she explained, “I feel like I took that away from you.”

“No.” His voice was suddenly adamant, as if seeing her crying, in pain, made him switch into protector mode again. “No, you gave my son a home. If he’s able to accept you as his mother…”—even as he said that, his voice trembled, “I should be happy. It’s not your fault, and definitely not his, that  _I_  can’t handle moving on.”

“You’re doing just fine,” she reassured him with a smile. “As long as we love each other, we’ll figure everything else out.” He nodded, but she could clearly see she made him emotional again. She wiped her face, completely covered in tears she didn’t even feel. “Wow,” she mumbled, “we are a pair of tragic messes.” RJ laughed softly, but only held on to her hand as she stood up. “Come on, sweetie. You promised to cook.”

And that finally tore a real, honest chuckle from his throat; Sole beamed up alongside him. They went back to the kitchen, hand in hand, but before she managed to put him at the pots, RJ hurried to the duffel bag he had left near the door.

“Hey, Duncan,” he said, “do you wanna see your present?”

The boy jumped up from the rug, letting out something that only vaguely resembled a very loud ‘YES!’. He rushed to the table just as RJ was putting the duffel bag there and asked, “Is that why you were gone for so long?”

“Yeah, buddy. Had to go get the best for you.” And with that, RJ reached into the bag and pulled out… a BB gun. Sole blinked in surprise. She didn’t expect him to do that sort of thing, not after all those times when he said he didn’t want Duncan to have the same life he did, full of violence and blood. But then again, was there really any other life to be made in the Commonwealth?

“I know, I know,” he said, seeing Sole’s surprised gaze. “But he needs to learn to protect himself, and the earlier, the better, right? Besides, I mean, it’s just a BB gun, it’s not like he’s going to turn into  _me_ …”

Duncan, after doing a round around he house holding the small rifle like a commando, ran back and stood at the table, looking somewhat distraught. Sole took a moment to admire the worksmaship of the weapon. Even if it  _was_  just a glorified toy, the barrel was sleek black and the butt polished to a shine, and there was something special in the way it was built. It must’ve been a unique. And she had no doubts RJ cleaned and oiled it at least three times on his way back.

“Is anything wrong, love?” she asked noticing Duncan didn’t really know how to start.

“No, I mean, I really like it, but…” He sucked his lips in, then pouted again. “I want a scope, too.”

RJ glared at him, like he wanted to say, ‘NO, YOU DON’T’, but before he could, Sole cautiously asked, “Why?”

“’Cause I wanna be just like Daddy when he shoots.”

Sole stifled a laugh, which was an especially difficult task, given RJ’s surprised, almost betrayed face in front of her. “Sure, Duncan,” she said. “We’ll figure something out tomorrow, how about that? And for now, just go and play with it, learn how it feels. Okay?” And as Duncan shuffled away, she looked back at RJ. “I think you may have miscalculated a bit, love.”

“That little…” He shook his head. “You do know it makes no sense, though.”

“Of course, but what harm could it be? I’ll make him a detachable short scope. Let him have fun with it, even if the gun’s range isn’t nearly enough.”

RJ sighed and only then stopped making faces in disbelief. He threw her another odd look, but this time it was one of the good kind. “I have something for you, too, actually,” he said, but before Sole could protest, he added, “it’s not much, don’t freak out. Just a memento, I suppose.” And then he took out a necklace fashioned out of an old silver chain and a rifle round, and placed it in her hand.

“What’s this?” she asked, feeling like an idiot. RJ said it was a memento, so she probably should recognize it from somewhere, but she just couldn’t place it. But he didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s the first round I shot after taking up with you. We encountered some raiders on the way to Diamond City? You were taking cover in front of me, and just as I was taking aim, you stood up with those brass balls of yours and just went at ‘em. Distracted me so much I completely missed. I picked it up afterwards—at first, I was supposed to use it again, but then it just sort of traveled with me and never found a way into my rifle. So…”

“It’s perfect,” she said, “I love it. Can you…?”

Even fastening the necklace on her, RJ couldn’t help but make excuses. “I know it’s not much, but…”

“Hey.” She turned around and put her arms around his neck again. “It doesn’t matter, love. You already gave me the best Christmas gift I could ever dream of: a family.”

 

**Piper**

Sole promptly put it out of her mind—there was a lot to do. She woke Piper with a kiss, the kind that made her murmur and stretch, and then put her arms around Sole’s shoulders and pull her in for continuance. Her house in Diamond City wasn’t big, but with Sole only dropping by from time to time when she managed to steal away from her other duties, it was more than enough. And even though it was insanely early for both of them, they already heard Nat bustling around downstairs.

“Wow,” Sole said. “She got excited for Christmas.”

“Nat? Never,” Piper replied, getting out bed and rushing down the stairs, still only in her shirt and shorts. Sole took a moment to appreciate her legs and the way the oufit showed off certain parts of her, before finally getting dressed herself and following her.

“Merry Christmas!” Nat, wearing an apron, shouted at their sight way more joyfully than Sole had ever heard her speak. She didn’t even put down the ladle when she hugged them both warmly, and then went back to cooking. Piper looked like she’d been hit by lightning.

“What is going on?” she whispered to Sole as they went back upstairs to get dressed. “Did the Institute take her.”

“Stop it,” Sole laughed. “It’s just the holiday cheer.”

“No, seriously, Blue… I’ve never seen her act like this.”

“Trust me, she’s just possessed by Christmas spirit.” Piper didn’t seem entirely convicted, but Sole couldn’t really offer her anything else. She still hadn’t told her she’d decided to take over the Institute in order to make it better for the people of the Commonwealth. She had no idea how Piper would react. So even though she knew firsthand Nat was not swapped and that, in fact, no one would get swapped for a synth ever again, she wasn’t going to tell her that on Christmas morning. “Look, if she still acts like this after the holidays,  _then_  you’ll have a reason to be worried. For now, just enjoy it. Come on, she’s cooking for us.”

“Yeah, that’s what worries me the most,” Piper mumbled. “But okay. I’ll put my mistrustful journalist nature aside… just for today.”

“Good girl,” Sole teased and kissed her again. “Now, come on, I wanna give you your gift.”

“No!” Piper jumped in immediately. “Me first!” After which, she darted back downstairs with Sole close at her heels.

“Really, you should probably see what I got f—” She didn’t finish as Piper pushed a box up to her face like a little excited girl. It was flat, but quite big, with a big blue bow around it. “Okay…” Sole said as her brow raised, and Piper immediately got all flustered and adorable.

“O-Okay, maybe I got a little bit too… But I just… Oh, just open it.”

So Sole did and inside she found a… a scrapbook? Well, it was definitely hand-made, with pages glued to the leather-bound cover with wonderglue, probably, and even the cover seemed to be taken from some other book. But it didn’t matter, because when Sole opened it, she found pages and pages  _and pages_  of photos of her and Piper, and even some of the others, all from the time they spent traveling together. There was her conversation with Nick, and here how she went to the mayor’s office, and on the next page were even photos of her breaking into Kellogg’s old house… But somehow, ‘this reporter’ managed to keep herself from captioning every single one, instead settling for just a few sarcastic remarks here and there, like the one that said “Justice served hot” at the photo of her going at some raiders with a flamer. Sole felt like she was about to burst out laughing, but instead she just stood there in awe.

“You… You were taking photos the entire time?” she stuttered out, then raised her gaze to look at Piper’s flustered face.

“Yeah, I mean… Didn’t you ever notice?”

“I… I don’t know, I guess I didn’t. I mean, I saw you photographing everything else, just not… me.” She went back to flipping through the pages. Here was their time at Covenant… There, their trip to Vault 81… And at the very end, on the last page, was only one photo—the one they’d made together at the beginning of their relationship, here in Diamond City, laying in Piper’s bed as Sole kissed her cheek and Piper couldn’t help but blush and laugh. And the caption said only, “How I knew”. Sole felt tears pricking at her eyelids.

“Thank you, Red,” she managed to push through her tightened throat.

“You’re welcome, Blue.” Piper looked like she was about to burst into tears herself, but held herself bravely as she pulled Sole in for a hug. They just couldn’t stay away from each other, could they?, Sole thought, burying her face in Piper’s hair.

“Hey, you two lovebirds, how about some help here?” Nat suddenly shouted from the other side of the room. “Do I have to do everything alone?!”

Piper pulled away from Sole, sniffled; wiped away a tear hanging from Sole’s eyelashes; and then she chuckled and said, “Gotta love family, huh?”

 

**Preston**

By the time she managed to gather strength to get out of bed, the entire town was buzzing with people gathering up near the tree at the round square. She got dressed and followed suit, only to see Preston helping the settlers up several ladders to hang decorations from the branches. She kinda liked him in a position of leadership. There was just something… something  _else_  to the way he distributed tasks among everyone, keeping them busy, until the entire town worked together to make the most of this Christmas. It honestly warmed Sole’s heart as she walked towards them and people greeted her with happy voices and ‘Merry Christmas’es and ‘good to see you’s.

“Hello, General,” Preston said a bit sheepishly as she approached, even though his face was sporting a wide grin.

“Hello, my First Officer,” she replied cheekily. She could swear he blushed a little, but thankfully, with him, only she was able to tell. “You’re having fun,” she added as she motioned to the people around.

“It’s reassuring to see people come together and forget about their troubles on a day like this.” He smiled softly. He was talking about the settlers, but he looked only at her. Then he turned his face to the sun as his gaze drifted away and he said, “Everyone’s so cheerful and carefree.”

“What about you?” Sole put her hand on his cheek to turn his face back to her. She didn’t even notice when they’d moved closer to each other, to the point where it might start being really uncomfortable to everyone around. She didn’t really care. “How is it today?”

“Could be better,” he said, and she knew he meant it was awful. “I mean, last year…”

“I know,” she stopped him before he could fall into that abyss again. “I know.”

Preston kissed her forehead, drawing comfort for having her close. Or at least that’s what she thought, given that it was exactly what she was doing.

“I’m just glad we found each other,” he said.

“Me, too.”

They stayed like that for another minute, linked in that intimate embrace, as everyone bustled around them, shouting and laughing. The sun falling on the decorations covered the ground around them in colorful flashes.

“Come on,” Preston said eventually, pulling away from her, though with clear effort. “I want to give you your present.”

“Shouldn’t you keep watch on your lemmings?”

He blinked at her. “What’s a ‘lemming’?”

Sole paused, staring into the distance. “Nevermind,” she replied eventually. “Old world stuff. Lead on, then. Where did you hide it?”

“Like I’m going to tell you,” he smiled at her. “Where would I hide your future presents then? Just wait here.” He left her at the porch of their house as he disappeared behind the one across the street, but then he was gone for so long she couldn’t tell where he went anymore. Bastard.

And then he nearly gave her a heart attack when he came up from behind her saying, “Well, what are you waiting for?” As soon as she was done shrieking, she slapped his arm as he laughed. Oh, it was so nice to see that poor man laughing. “Come into the house, love. It’s there on the counter.”

And when Sole looked, she saw a fully modified laser musket laid out in the kitchen, obviously custom made, repainted in blue and white, and with the Minutemen logo lovingly engraved on the side. She picked it up gently and turned it in her hands, marveling at the handiwork.

“You said you didn’t like the muskets for how long it took to wind them up, so I figured out how to make it automatic,” Preston said, coming up and embracing her from behind. “Do you like it?”

“Huh.” She put it to her shoulder and let go a quick series of lasers through the open side door at the wreck of her old car that was still standing on the driveway even though she was supposed to break it down to pieces probably like two months ago. But, well, it turned to ash in a matter of seconds now, so… problem solved? She threw Preston a glance over her shoulder just to see his perplexed face. Oops. Seems he didn’t expect her to just start shooting it right away. “I love it,” she said cheerfully, and bent herself awkwardly to pull him in for a kiss. Preston shook his head leniently, but gave in to her and they spent the next few minutes passionately making out in the middle of the living room as Sole only tried not to drop her new gift on the floor.

“Now,” Preston said when they finally ran out of breath and had to pull away, “time to get back to our family, huh?”

* * *

Oh, SHIT I realised the second ask called for all of the companions, not only the romanced ones. Whoops? Anyway, let me quickly add them, and I hope you’ll forgive me if I do this in bullet points ‘cause that monster up there took me three days to write because I can never shut up…

((Also, no DLC-companions ‘cause I’m poor.))

Okay, here we go!

**Codsworth**

  * gifting is tricky for him since he’s a robot and doesn’t have many options
  * but hey, it’s Christmas and there’s no way he’s not honouring the tradition of the family he will always consider himself part of, even if half of it’s gone
  * so when Sole’s not around, he goes all the way down to Diamond City, making precise careful calculations to be there at night so that he can deal with Percy at Diamond City Surplus
  * (especially since he doesn’t really know how the people would react to a robot just casually floating into DC on his own)
  * when he gets back, Sole’s home, so he pretends to have been just triming the hedges nearby because, and I quote, “Every time I go around them, they are so insufferably asymmetrical…”
  * he promptly thinks that giving them the gift right away, face-to-face, would be too much boldness on his part, after all, he is but a cleaning robot and had never been invited to festivities before–he wouldn’t want to impose…
  * so he leaves his gift on a table near Sole’s workshop and watches their reaction as they open it from afar
  * Sole opens the wrapping to find the exact, perfect-state replica of their favourite outfit from before the war inside
  * and they promptly go, “CODSWORTH!”
  * Codsworth floats over, his subsystems buzzing nervously, but Sole just asks him if he has any idea who might’ve left that gift for them
  * Codsworth relays all power to the social-interaction module, straining to overwrite his programming to say, “I have no idea, mum/sir”
  * Sole laughs and goes, “Well, nevermind, I’m just gonna go change into it while I still have some time. Speaking of which, would you like to join the rest of us for dinner, keep us some company? Maybe make sure we don’t all end up hopelessly drunk?” Codsworth’s voice module suddenly gets some power troubles when he says, “It would be my utmost pleasure.”



**Deacon**

  * definitely in the bizarre department
  * Sole doesn’t come to the Railroad on the Christmas morning but they send Dogmeat over with a backpack full of small gifts for everyone as a way of apology and a note saying they’ll drop by as soon as they can
  * Deacon decides to get revenge and makes a prank gift for when they do come, even though Des is throwing him black looks as he works on it
  * when Sole comes over, Deacon ostensibly points to the Christmas ‘tree’ made out of beautifully arranged pipes and lights (he and Tinker Tom worked on it all night after Des told them to go get a real tree)
  * there’s a plain cardboard box underneath the tree
  * Deacon’s just standing there with his arms crossed like, “Well, go on, open it, FINALLY”
  * Sole laughs but takes it
  * …and finds a bald pull-on mask inside and a pair of sunglasses
  * they stare at it for a moment, speechless
  * Deacon can barely stifle laughter, he doubles down, unable to breathe
  * Tinker Tom’s sitting there grinning, but everyone else doesn’t really know how to react
  * Des is shaking her head and pretends to be busy with planning even though she’s watching it all out of the corner of her eye
  * and then Sole pulls on that mask, puts on the glasses and just goes, “Hi, I’m Dick-con and I’m an asshole!” and the entire HQ bursts out laughing



**Dogmeat**  
(yes, I know, I know, the DOG?!… please just bear with me)

  * that Morning, Dogmeat wakes up to the sounds of his Human being sad
  * they had been thrashing around at night, which Dogmeat had already learnt usually meant they were going to be Sad and make weird heart-wrenching Sounds and have their face Wet when they woke up
  * sometimes they woke up at Dark and it was worse, so he supposed this wasn’t so bad
  * but still he went to Comfort them as he usually would and as he opened the Door with his front paws, he could already see it was much much worse than Always
  * he didn’t know why, it’s not like anything changed, except maybe for the Snow outside, but Dogmeat didn’t think Snow was a good enough reason to be sad; quite the opposite
  * but it didn’t matter to him; all that mattered was that his Human was sad
  * so he jumped on their knees and pushed his face under their hands and they started petting him but it didn’t seem to work
  * so he got up there on the Big Bed and pulled them back down and licked their face, and they laughed which usually meant he did Good, but even though they petted him and looked at him their face was still Wet and it didn’t make any sense
  * well, there was one other Thing that always cheered him up, so surely it would work for them too, right??
  * so he jumped off and ran across the House and then out to His House (why did he leave it in His House?? why not take it to the Other Bed?) and brought the Thing to the Human
  * and they Sounded and Wetted even more???
  * but then they said he was a Good Boy!!! so it was all okay, yes? he jumped on the Big Bed next to them and put his face on their knees as they petted the Thing on its head and round Ears and moved the Funny round fingerless paws that the Thing had
  * and then they said, “Thank you, Dogmeat. But this is yours. I can’t take your teddy bear. Here.” and handed the Thing back to him??? it didn’t make any sense, but it didn’t matter to him; all that mattered was that his Human wasn’t sad anymore.



**Nick**

  * when all the festivities are finished, he asks Sole to come with him to his agency because he wants to give them their present
  * and when they get there, he pulls out this thick folder and slides it to her on the table, but still keeps his robotic hand on it
  * he says, “Listen, this might be very good or very bad for you. I just thought you would want to know, and…” and then opens the folder, revealing the first page that says, “Subject #245, ‘Shaun’: Development Notes”
  * Sole feels their heart sink; it’s clearly all the Institute’s records on Shaun’s childhood, his  _actual, real_  childhood
  * “Where did you get this?” they ask; Nick explains he took extra effort to pull it from the Institute’s archives when they were there last time; he would’ve given it to them earlier but he was conflicted about whether or not it would do them more harm than good
  * Sole sits down, clutching the file; they honestly don’t know, either
  * Nick sees their pain and explains, “I flipped through it when compiling. They didn’t do anything bad to him, but it is written in a scientific, emotionless language. There are pictures, though. I thought that alone might…”
  * Sole doesn’t let him finish; they open the folder–they’ll read it later, for now they just want to see their baby grow up for the first time in their life
  * they study the pictures one by one; there’s at least one per day up until Shaun is a full year old; afterwards, they photographed him several times a week to keep track of his development
  * it’s physically painful to see him in the Institute’s white walls; the scientists’ faces are never shown, only their hands as they hold him, feed him, take samples… but afterwards, when he gets bigger, he seems happy–and that hurts even more, but also fills Sole’s heart with joy, that though not ideal, their child had at least a happy life
  * they close the folder and hold it close like the most precious treasure as they look up at Nick with tearful eyes; “Thank you, Nick,” they say, “so, so much. Thank you for giving me my baby back.”



**BONUS: romanced!Nick + synth!Shaun **(+ f!Sole again because technical issues, sorry)****

  * Shaun’s been staying with Nick for a while now, since he needs to go to school and Sole’s too busy with all her responsibilities to stay in DC all the time; she felt bad to ask Nick for yet another favour, but he was more than happy to have a hand in the boy’s education
  * Sole comes to visit as often as she can, and this whole ‘joint custody’ thing made her and Nick grow really close over time
  * Nick doesn’t really know what to make of what he’s feeling; it makes no sense, not with how a huge part of him is still pining for Jen, how every time he shuts down for pre-programmed repairs, he comes to and hopes to see her next to him… so can the feelings he has for Sole even be real?
  * and the way Sole acts around him, there are only two explanations: she either considers him a very good friend, or she’s as uncomfortable with her feelings as he is and pushes them back; he can’t really blame her–it must be terribly confusing to find oneself having feelings, whatever they may be, for a Generation-2 prototype synth, especially one looking the way he does, whose entire self is contained in a chip; plus a few undesired additions, like Kellogg’s thoughts sometimes bugging him like a needle pricking at the back of his consciousness
  * but still, awkwardness or not, Nick finds himself wishing for Sole to be there already more often than not, and every time Shaun asks, “When is Mommy going to come visit?”, he has to consciously make sure to say, “I don’t know, pal. Hopefully soon.”
  * until one day he’s too busy with analysing a case and when Shaun comes to ask him that, Nick replies with, “I miss her too, buddy, but I really don’t know.” before realising what he just said and looking up at Shaun in disbelief; Shaun then only turns around and runs back up to his room, and the topic never comes up again
  * but then Christmas rolls around, and Sole gives them a heads-up she’ll only manage to meet them at the Dugout Inn at the celebrations hosted by Vadim brothers for all the less-fortunate folks of Diamond City, and, after a small donation, for the more fortunate, too
  * but Nick knows taking a 10-year-old kid with him to a place like the Dugout Inn isn’t probably the smartest idea, so Shaun agrees to stay home and go to sleep early so he can see Mommy early in the morning
  * after the festivities are done and Nick and Sole get back to the agency he asks her to take a look at something Shaun made, something he didn’t exactly know what to make of, and he can see Sole’s surprise and concern in her eyes–like any mother, she feared for what her child could’ve gotten himself into, and it warmed Nick’s heart with hope more than he’d be willing to admit to see her treat a synth like a real son, real family
  * he hands her a comic that Shaun drew and brought to him a few days ago; Sole brought him her collection of comics and magazines to busy himself with when she wasn’t there, and Shaun apparently thought they were one of her most prized possessions; “Well, he’s not so much off the mark,” she says as Nick explains
  * she takes the short comic, drawn in her child’s hand, and starts to slowly read it, carefully taking in each page; Nick already knows what’s there–it’s a child-like fantasy of how their life would look like if Sole didn’t have to leave all the time, and could instead stay here with them, and it was heartbreaking and… something else
  * now Nick can see all those emotions Shaun tried to convey pass through Sole’s face: anguish, longing, hope… and then she reaches the last page.
  * Nick knows what’s on the last page and he can feel his coolant pumping like crazy; he swears his palms would be sweaty right now if… well, if he had both of them, for starters; his metal fingers glide over the object he’s been carrying in his coat’s pocket for some time now
  * Sole doesn’t react at first; she stares, slack-jawed, at the full-page elaborate, probably the most carefully-drawn panel in the entire book which shows her and Nick locked in an embrace and a speech bubble above his head with a “Will you marry me?” written in all-caps inside
  * Sole looks up at him slowly; he knows he made her think it was something bad, so now she’s probably asking herself what’s going on and why is he so concerned about this–clearly, a child’s innocent fantasy is no reason to worry
  * but the truth is, Nick wasn’t concerned at all; he just promised Shaun to give her that comic for Christmas and when he saw what was inside, there was no way he could do it without getting all weird and Sole may have just read a bit too much into this
  * but now she’s staring up at him in surprise, and for the first time in his synth life he  _freezes_
  * it takes him a second to get over himself, and soon Sole’s surprise turns into pure unbridled shock when he pulls out a small silver ring and holds it out to her in his robotic fingers
  * it’s a stalemate: Nick was supposed to say the line, but he barely managed to get his hand to move, so he doesn’t want to try speaking, just in case; and Sole is clearly too shocked to react in any meaningful way–only one of her hands is twitching, like she wants to do something, but she just  _can’t_
  * and then the smallest of voices speaks up from the doorway as Shaun watches the scene unravel: “Mommy?” Sole looks at him, not any less surprised, her head turning stiffly, as if with effort
  * and then after another second she bursts out in lenient, cheerful laughter and all the tension immediately dissipates when Shaun asks with the honesty only a hopeful child can have: “Say ‘yes’, okay?”



**Strong**  
(yes, Strong; I did the dog, why are you surprised?)

  * about two weeks before Christmas, Sole notices Strong is no longer at the settlement where they left him; they never kept much track of what Strong was doing, but they do notice when he’s gone and no one, somehow, can tell where he went
  * another thing that seems to be gone is Sole’s triple missile launcher, which leads them to be really afraid of what that idiot may have decided to do
  * but when a few days pass and they don’t hear a word of a settlement having been burnt to the ground or otherwise attacked by a single supermutant with a missile launcher, they calm down and decide there’s no point in worrying about it, that it’s just probably another one of his super-quirks
  * next time they see him, it’s Christmas–everyone’s having dinner in the great hall they built specifically for this purpose and occasion, when suddenly Sole hears Strong calling them to the outside
  * “You can come and eat with us, Strong, if you w–” they start saying as they walk out, but a loud crash interrupts them as Strong drops their Christmas present on the ground in front of them
  * it’s a Behemoth’s club, the enormous one made from a fire hydrant, with something that looks suspiciously like a string of intestines wrapped around it like a bow
  * and before Sole finds the cat that stole their tongue, Strong says, “Strong tell human that human like Behemoth. So human deserve this.”  
“Thank… you? Uhh… did you… go and fight a Behemoth for this, Strong?”  
“Yes. Missiles help.”  
“Oh, and what happened to the missile launcher?”  
“Broken. When Behemoth not die from booms, Strong beat Behemoth with gun. Bring this instead.”  
“Wow, it’s really… really big. You must know I can’t possibly carry this.”  
“It okay. Strong carry for human.”
  * and when he says it, Strong grabs the fire hydrant club, heaves it up onto his shoulder and walks off without looking back; Sole decides not to ask how Strong even knew about Christmas and the gift-giving tradition…



**X6**

  * somewhere mid-December, X6 asks Sole to give him “time off” to go to the Institute for “personal reasons”
  * Sole has never heard him use either phrase before and they’re quite a bit surprised, but they agree without asking questions–it’s probably better this way anyway
  * late evening on Christmas Eve, X6 comes to Sole again, just suddenly appears at their doorstep as they’re preparing some things to give to the people at the Christmas dinner tomorrow, and immediately says, “I’m sorry for the intrusion. I am aware many of your companions would not react well to seeing me here during this time.”
  * just as Sole starts to reassure him that it’s not that bad, X6 raises his hand, “You misunderstand. I don’t feel the need to participate in your holiday activities. However, the way you persevere in treating me with respect and your human warmth, even though I do not always reciprocate it, appears to be more important to me than I realised. That is why I thought that, in honor of your traditions, I should come and bring you this.”
  * he hands Sole a small, but surprisingly heavy Institute suitcase; and when they open it, they discover rows and rows of mostly unfamiliar tools arranged neatly inside; they throw X6 a surprised look  
“On several occasions, you expressed your concern for your synth companions getting damaged on your adventures, including me. Should you desire to fix them, this case contains everything you might possibly need. Some of us are more human than others, so you might need certain medical prowess as well, but for those of us who are more robotic, like me or the un… I mean, Nick Valentine… This should be more than enough. Merry Christmas, I imagine the saying goes?”
  * and as he says it, he turns around to leave; Sole tears their eyes off of the tools the Institute refused to give them when they asked last time–meaning that bringing them this gift might actually have put X6 at risk–and stops X6 with an, “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”  
“There is no place for me here. I know that. I would not like to make anyone uncomfortable or afraid during this time that you humans consider so important. I shall return at the beginning of next month. That is, if you want me to.”  
“I do,” Sole says and watches him disappear into the dark of the early Wasteland night.



**Author's Note:**

>  **Original post:** [HERE](https://atombombbagel.tumblr.com/post/168974478198/what-do-you-think-romanced-companions-would-be) & [HERE](http://dono-harm-totonystark.tumblr.com/post/168981863839/what-do-you-think-romanced-companions-would-be)


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